Friday, November 2, 2012

The cold is here!

So I've already had to bust out the parka because it has been below
freezing pretty much all week. They weren't kidding when they told me winter
starts in October up here. It's been pretty cold. I have to be honest, I didn't
think that it would get this cold this early...crazy.

Anyways, we got to go to Regina yesterday to watch the Calgary temple
dedication broadcast. Pres. Monson was hilarious! It was snowing in Calgary, and
there was all sorts of people outside at the cornerstone ceremony. Elder Ballard
was also there. It was just so funny when Pres Monson was calling kids up to
help put in mortar. He called up a little girl. She was struggling a bit, so he
just says, "the backhand, show her the backhand. Every good woman knows the
backhand!" And he swings his arm. It was so funny. I had never heard Pres Monson
talk like that before. ( First, I owe everyone who has ever read this a sincere apology. I hope this is
not too little, too late. But please bear with me because I have some explaining
to do. The reason I have not already responded is because I did not start this
blog. This blog was started on my behalf while I was serving a mission. I did
not even see the blog until about a year ago. When I saw the comments on this
post, I was unable to post a personal comment, so I quit trying because I
thought that, after all, it may have been too late. And everyone had already
moved on. But I have been informed of some recent attention to this post, so I
feel it is worth addressing my comment. To give some context, this blog was
started as a way for my extended family and friends to have access to my
personal emails home without necessitating a large email chain. These family and
friends are well acquainted with me and the way I speak, so they have all
understood the intent of my comments. But there are many who don’t know me, so
they have misunderstood my statements. For that reason, I would like to make it
perfectly clear what I personally meant by my statement in this post regarding
President Monson. When Pres. Monson made his comment about the backhand, he
meant that every good women knows HOW to backhand, not that every woman should
be hit or abused physically. Let’s be honest, EVERYONE in this world has needed
to be put in their place by their mother. And I believe, along with Pres.
Monson, that it’s a commendable quality of a good woman that she is willing and
able to give her children that necessary direction (although I’m not
particularly advocating physical discipline). I am personally grateful for my
mom’s willingness to counsel and inspire me, and even though I am certain I
deserved physical discipline, she never gave it. In this context, I found Pres.
Monson’s comment to be enlightening to his childhood, and that’s what made it
humorous to me. It was funny for me to picture a young Pres. Monson acting much
like the rest of us did while we were young and standing in need of being
reprimanded. I am truly thankful for how transparent Pres. Monson is. He often
shares his personal experiences that show that he is very much human. My biggest
concern about this whole misunderstanding is that it has tarnished his
reputation. I hope that this post clears up any confusion about his character. I
recognize my own personal flaws, and you can form any personal opinion of me
based on this misunderstanding that you would like. But PLEASE do not form your
opinion about Pres. Monson based on this misunderstanding. He is a kind and
caring man and a true prophet of the Lord. To learn more about his life and
character please visit:
https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/what-are-prophets/bio/thomas-s-monson?lang=eng
.Sorry again for any confusion. )

He definitely has a sense of humor. After the dedication,
I talked with some of the members from the Wascana ward. They thought I was
coming back to stay. Some of them even thought that when I left Wascana I had
finished my mission. I don't know how they got that idea. I was as green as
grass! It was nice talking with them. It was funny, I was also standing with
some of the members of our branch. They told one of the Wascana members to stop
trying to steal our elder. This stake is just fantastic!

We got invited to lunch by our high council men. He is from Vietnam, so we
ate this noodle and meat soup stuff. And we ate it with chopsticks! It was so
good! It was authentic...I found some chicken bones in it. Unfortunately, I
found them with my teeth. Other than that it was a fantastic meal! We had this
soda, milk stuff. It was delicious. They are a very nice family. It was great.
We also got invited to dinner last night at the Regnier's. We had homemade
perogies and cabbage rolls. Sounds pretty weird but taste really good!

This week was sort of a miracle. Well, not even sort of, there's no short
selling it, it was for sure a miracle. Hedley found a new job and received an
insurance check just at the moment they needed it most. As of right now, it
appears that their financial struggles are over! I know that the Lord will
always keep His promises. I was thinking about Mosiah 2:41 a bunch since we met
with them on Sunday. I wondered why they hadn't been blessed temporally as the
scripture said. They were doing what they could and trying to be obedient. Then,
they were blessed within a day of me wondering when they would be blessed! It
was amazing! It continues to be a slow and steady progress with them. We'll be
continuing to meet with them and helping them strengthen their
testimonies.

We helped Bro Regnier with one of the houses in Radville he's going to rent
out. I had to stuff insulation between the wall and the ceiling in the basement.
It's an old house, so it's not a basement like you're thinking. There's no home
theatre down there! At one point, I was crawling along this pile of rocks and
dirt that was just about to the ceiling. It was pretty dark, and it was thick
with cobwebs. I was taking out all of the cobwebs with a stick and crawling
along, all of a sudden, I feel something hit my back. I looked behind me to ask
why Elder French had thrown something at me, but he wasn't behind me. I backed
out of there pretty quick! When I went back in there, I found what looked like a
dead mouse. Best I can figure is that I knocked it loose from the ceiling with
the stick, and when I crawled by it fell on me. At least that's what I'm going
with! Well, I might have exclaimed something about spiders, so I got teased by
Bro Regnier a bit. He was in the other room, and I just hear him yell, "Elder
Lyons, you should be in here. There's a bunch of spiders!" All, I'm saying is if
I could feel something land on my back, that's a big spider!

Oh, I can't forget about Tuesday! Sorry this email is really scattered.
Anyways, on Tuesday Pres Thomas skyped into our district meeting. He wanted to
talk with us about how the missionary announcement at conference is going to
effect our mission. Apparently, before the announcement, about 700 missionary
applications were sent in every week. Now there has been about 4,000 a week!
They expect that the number of missionaries will increase from about 58,000 to
90,000+ in just the next 6 to 18 months! It will then level off to about 75,000.
But most of these missionaries will be staying in North America in the central
areas. My mission! So our mission is expected to triple in size. Increase from
56 missionaries to about 170! Yeah, all in the next 6 to 18 months! So basically
Pres Thomas was telling us to step it up! It's really an exciting time to be
serving!

Elder Lyons and Greg

Central Canada looks a lot like S.E. Idaho!

Elder Lyons chillin in his new trailor

1st snow!

Our one spot of bad news is that the family in McTaggart had a bit of a set
back. Cory broke his ankle pretty bad, so one of our appointments fell through.
The poor guy was in a lot of pain. But we'll get in touch with them, and
hopefully set something up for this week.

Thanks for all your emails! It was great to hear from you! I love you all
and hope that you have a great week!

Abusing women is so hilarious. Ha ha. I'm dying. I'm ecstatic that you honor a man and call him a prophet that would joke about beating women and a little girl. Unsurprising, though. There has been a long line of men in power doing it throughout history. Including mormon prophets. Starting with Joseph.

I'll give Monson a pass as he is known to have dementia and old men just have to be forgiven sometimes. But you, my dear young Elder, just figuring out life, this is not behavior you want to emulate.

Chris, Don't see my last post. What makes showing a girl the "backhand" funny. That seems totally inappropriate. What made the joking about hitting someone, especially a girl humorous? I find President Monson doing this uncomfortable for me (perhaps this had another meaning,. perhaps a health issue, perhaps... any good reason would suffice.) and your finding it funny perhaps worse. Would love an explanation.

Elder Lyons, did you interpret the prophet's comments as giving a girl a backhand or showing her how to use the backhand motion? I think in one context it would seem to indicate that the prophet advocated hitting women and the other would be a lighthearted joke about woman backhanding their husband. Just curious.

First, I owe everyone who has ever read this a sincere apology. I hope this is not too little, too late. But please bear with me because I have some explaining to do. The reason I have not already responded is because I did not start this blog. This blog was started on my behalf while I was serving a mission. I did not even see the blog until about a year ago. When I saw the comments on this post, I was unable to post a personal comment, so I quit trying because I thought that, after all, it may have been too late. And everyone had already moved on. But I have been informed of some recent attention to this post, so I feel it is worth addressing my comment. To give some context, this blog was started as a way for my extended family and friends to have access to my personal emails home without necessitating a large email chain. These family and friends are well acquainted with me and the way I speak, so they have all understood the intent of my comments. But there are many who don’t know me, so they have misunderstood my statements. For that reason, I would like to make it perfectly clear what I personally meant by my statement in this post regarding President Monson. When Pres. Monson made his comment about the backhand, he meant that every good women knows HOW to backhand, not that every woman should be hit or abused physically. Let’s be honest, EVERYONE in this world has needed to be put in their place by their mother. And I believe, along with Pres. Monson, that it’s a commendable quality of a good woman that she is willing and able to give her children that necessary direction (although I’m not particularly advocating physical discipline). I am personally grateful for my mom’s willingness to counsel and inspire me, and even though I am certain I deserved physical discipline, she never gave it. In this context, I found Pres. Monson’s comment to be enlightening to his childhood, and that’s what made it humorous to me. It was funny for me to picture a young Pres. Monson acting much like the rest of us did while we were young and standing in need of being reprimanded. I am truly thankful for how transparent Pres. Monson is. He often shares his personal experiences that show that he is very much human. My biggest concern about this whole misunderstanding is that it has tarnished his reputation. I hope that this post clears up any confusion about his character. I recognize my own personal flaws, and you can form any personal opinion of me based on this misunderstanding that you would like. But PLEASE do not form your opinion about Pres. Monson based on this misunderstanding. He is a kind and caring man and a true prophet of the Lord. To learn more about his life and character please visit: https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/what-are-prophets/bio/thomas-s-monson?lang=eng .Sorry again for any confusion.